The Voki below originally had my voice, however both my 18-year-old son and my 11 year old grand-daughter said my voice sounded ‘daggy and boring’! Nice ay! Now the voice is that of my grand-daughter. Please turn your sound up and click on the arrow to activate her voice. If your page loads quickly you will not need to read the words in italics as those are the words she is saying.

Wow! This week’s tutorial was so full on, so much to take in! So many new cyber world things to know about that my mind was exploding!

There are so many tools that students can use that it is mind-boggling, you practically need a University degree in Digital Media to be able to navigate through it all!

Although it was a lot to take in, there are so many advantages for children with these applications. Children who have problems writing can use their voice or a computer animated voice to produce assignments. Students with English as their second language would also find the tools very helpful to ensure they don’t feel left out. With all the tools now available teachers are able to cater to all styles of learning (VAKT).

Podcasting, Vodcasting & Digital Storytelling

Podcasting (audio recording) and Vodcasting (video) are excellent ways for children to bring out their creative side while learning (I hope you like my Voki!). These platforms are an example of Web 1.0 and 2.0 working together. The children are listening and viewing (Web 1.0) while producing (Web 2.0) their artifact. This goes to prove Web 2.0 needs its older brother!

I particularly like the use of digital storytelling, using multiple medias to tell a story. This makes it more interesting for the students who often become bored. As teachers we need to ensure our students are engaged and being in the digital era, where our students are, there are so many options available to us. We are still teaching reading, writing, spelling, etc but now we are now using the resources and tools that children relate to.

A website for teachers to check out regarding the use of digital storytelling in education is http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/index.html. Apart from children being able to produce their own stories, there are those available for teachers. One example is Storybird where you can both create a story or read one on the site.